So I have joined a bunch of chat loops to try to publicize myself. Some of them are reader loops, where I am seeking the holy grail: some readers who are interested in my characters. But some of the loops are for authors to share information with our peers. The big hot button that is being discussed all over now is piracy. Some people, mostly younger ones (like my 3rd son, a senior in high school), think nothing of paying to download something, then sharing it with their friends. Their rationale is that they paid for it, so it belongs to them now, to do whatever they want with it. Including making copies and giving them to each other. Reality is that this goes on all over, everyday. Right or wrong?Reality also is that this is illegal. When you download something, like an e-book, you have bought the right to own that one copy of that book. If you choose to copy it to your e-reader from your computer, theoretically you should delete the copy in your computer. You only bought the right to own one copy. The illegality enters into the picture when you give your e-reader to a friend so he/she can read the book. Now there are 2 copies (one in your computer, one in the e-reader), and you are sharing the book illegally with someone who has not paid for it. EVen worse is you send a copy of the book to your friend(s). Now you have compounded the illegal act. Many people are reading something they didn't pay for. (Here it might be useful to remember that if you buy a paperback, and loan it to a friend, there is only 1 copy...when your friend has it, you don't. That's the main difference.)

To defend themselves, many insist that this is a victim-less crime, that they haven't actually taken something from anyone, and that if any royalties are not paid, well, the rich publishers and authors charge too much for their books anyway, and so many are not worth the price. Who cares if a few are copied? The reality is that many publishers, particularly of e-books, are small houses who operate on a shoe-string budget. My own publisher is an example. There are many helpful and knowledgeable people who help me get my unfinished manuscript to print. Editors read and make suggestions; the cover artist usually talks to me a few times, sending me artwork until I'm happy with the cover; then it needs to be typeset into a readable form; and last of all, it is created as a POD (print-on-demand) paperback, which means none are printed until they are ordered. Each of these steps take time and effort. And none of these people are getting rich from what they are doing. Neither am I. It can take many hours to write a book, then to revise it until I feel it is the best I can produce. I don't make much from each book that is sold...but even though the IRS considers what I do to be a hobby, since I don't make enough for them to consider it a business, I still feel proud of being a published author. We are the people the pirates are stealing from. When you copy my book without paying for it, you are telling me that you don't feel my effort is worth anything. Do you agree? Disagree? Let's discuss...

I don't remember if it was you or someone else on the antipiracy loop who told their teenaged son --who had the same idea that once he paid for the book or game it was his to do with as he wanted -- that because of pirates stealing your income you couldn't buy him that MP3 player he wanted. Now that's a priceless lesson.

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Wray Davis

3/26/2010 03:54:50 am

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Wray Davis

3/26/2010 04:25:42 am

Whoops! Sorry about that first empty post.

The issue is actually a bit more complicated, I think! It's been awhile since I read the DMCA (maybe I should go refresh my memory), but as I recall what is specifically illegal is digital reproduction and -indiscriminate- distribution, or distribution for remuneration. In other words, you can't make money off digital reproduction, and you can't make digital reproductions available to just anyone, but reproduction and distribution to limited and known sources is purposefully a gray area meant to be judged in a small claims court when a party feels wronged. Intellectual Property owners have gone to great pains to educate the public that the above (discriminate, free distribution) is also piracy, and they're working hard to get the law on their side, but for the moment it's really not.

On a more philosophical note (and this is a painful conversation to have with artists and authors and any kind of content producers, among which I place myself, perhaps without merit), it seems to me that the original intent of copyright wasn't to guarantee an income to authors as it was to protect a monetary outlay for things like printing books and covering the costs of paints and canvas. Since we as artists find that the cost of production (and distribution) have fallen to zero or close to zero, isn't it fairly reasonable to expect that hobbyist writing/art/music is the new modality, and being paid/contracted to do it is the exception?